Ryan Daniels: It’s time Fremantle Dockers fans started to believe in ‘Flagmantle’ dream

If I asked you to tell me the one thing Miley Cyrus is best known for, I’m tipping we’d get a few different answers. Some would say “she’s Billy Ray’s daughter!” Others might recall her wholesome and rambunctious Disney character Hannah Montana. Most would refer to the time she shaved her head and swung naked from a giant wrecking ball – probably achy-breaking Billy Ray’s heart in the process. Like Miley, the Fremantle Dockers have been known for a few different things over the years. Most of them not great. They’ve long been the butt of empty cabinet jokes and anchor jibes. They made questionable draft choices, shocking trade transactions, bungled coach hirings and firings. Things have always been laced with an air of frustration. But, like Miley, the Dockers are capable of reinvention. And reinvent they have. Purple is the new black, and right now the Fremantle Dockers are the second-best team in the AFL. This is the most enjoyable, exciting and likeable team in the club’s history. Some may have been just as good – but not this impossible to hate. The games aren’t a slow, methodical, low-scoring slog-fest every week. There’s no Hayden Ballantyne, no Josh Carr, no Ryan Crowley. No polarising figure opposition fans love to despise. No desperate need for Pav or Fyfey to save them week to week. The bad eggs, the off-field trouble-makers on the list don’t exist. They’re gone – and not by accident. The Dockers are just a bunch of talented, hard-working and productive young dudes – and their footy dad, Dave Mundy. They’ve demonstrated the epitome of how to rebuild: Short, sharp, sexy … yet calculated. They’re coached by a guy who bled purple, but whose body let him down as a player – never able to realise the absolute peak of his powers. No, his destiny was this – to put his club on the map for all the right reasons. The whole thing reads like a sports movie. If you’re a tried-and-true Dockers fan, you’re probably doing your best to conceal your hopes and dreams. You’ve been fooled before. You’ve let yourself believe and been disappointed – humiliated even. I’m here to tell you, this time its different. This train has been built to move. Sure, you’re a few stops ahead of where many predicted you’d be – but don’t let that fool you. Strap yourselves in. Fremantle could win the flag. This year. Here’s the thing about premierships in the current era - no one sees them coming. In 2014 the Western Bulldogs won seven games. The coach got sacked. Ryan Griffen – the Captain – bailed for GWS. It was a Dog’s breakfast. Less than two years later, they’re holding up the cup. In 2016, Richmond were doing what Richmond had done for the better part of three decades. Be a basket case. They almost sacked Damien Hardwick, but instead sidestepped the banana peel and mauled their way through September. The Eagles in 2018? Robert Walls tipped them for the spoon – which seems ridiculous now, but you wouldn’t have found a single expert tipping West Coast tin win it all that year. Last season, Melbourne went from missing the eight in 2021 to destroying the entire league 12 months later. In the new world of flag building, things move fast. It’s happening to teams that catch everything in a bottle – lighting, thunder and hail storms all at once – it all comes together, the players buy in, the coach stays two steps ahead of the rest. This 7-1 start hasn’t happened without adversity. Sure, it hasn’t been the dumpster fire West Coast have been trying to put out for the last four months, but there’s been COVID – six players last week alone – injuries too, big ones – some guy named Nat Fyfe hasn’t played at all. None of it seems to slow the train down, because this is as real as it gets. Freo fans, it’s time to believe. Time to go all-in. Time to stop waiting for the guillotine to drop – don’t worry if the glass is half full or half empty, throw the glass away and enjoy the moment. You’re no longer hoping for a miracle. Don’t wake up in October wishing you’d invested more or that you’d believed a little more. Come in like a wrecking ball. Get to the games. Every single one. Sunday arvos. Cold days. All of them. Get there early and soak it all in. Pack that stadium – no more crowds hovering around 40,000. When Collingwood rock up next weekend, let them see 50,000 purple soldiers. Buy a mid-strength Single Fin, grab a bucket of chips and pay extra for the tomato sauce – splurge. You’ve earned it. Hell, do what Eagles fans do when their team is in this space… book your flights to Melbourne for grand final week, just in case. For the first time I can remember, this truly feels like Fremantle’s turn. Yes, Melbourne are a force to be reckoned with – but giants are born to be slayed. The purple premiership window has opened early, and the apple pie on the ledge smells fantastic. Oh… and here’s something you probably didn’t know about Miley Cyrus … her real name is Destiny. Funny that.